Composite hook and loop or other engageable fastener products are known to be produced by taking preformed hook and loop or other engageable material and overlapping and attaching the two materials together, such as along their edge margins, by ultrasonic welding, thermal fusing or adhesive bonding, for example.
Some hook fastener tape is produced in a continuous molding process, in which a plastic resin strip base is molded with integral fastener element stems extending from one surface. Typically, this molding is performed in a high pressure nip, such as between two counter-rotating rollers or against a single roller that defines miniature cavities in its peripheral surface, for molding either fastener element stems or complete fastener elements. To fill the miniature cavities at a high rate of speed, significant nip pressure is required. The nip is typically quite thin, for molding a correspondingly thin and flexible fastener element base. Because of the delicate nature of the surface of the molding roll, and the expense of producing such rolls, care must be taken to avoid roll surface damage.
Kennedy et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,260,015, disclosed that, with proper controls, some preform sheet materials could be introduced to the nip for in situ lamination to the base of the fastener element tape while the tape was being molded, under conditions that would not impede the filling, cooling and removal of fastener element stems from their respective cavities, nor cause local damage to the molding roll surface. More recently, Shepard et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,205,623, have disclosed introducing two or more identical sheets to the nip in parallel, with gaps between them, and forming fastener tapes across the gaps.
Further improvements in the formation of fastener composite materials, and in the materials themselves, are desired.